Hello!
First, I just want to acknowledge the tragedy that happened in the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Mission, which is where my cousin, Sister Talbot, is serving (she was not involved). Sister Johnson and I are very sad to here of the loss of Sister Wells. We both have a testimony of the gospel and Eternal families. We know she is with our Heavenly Father again and that she will be reunited with her loved ones. Please keep the Wells family in your prayers as well as the 3 other Sisters and their families who were involved.
We had quite a few amazing experiences this week! I will try to describe all of them for you :)
On Saturday, we decided to teach a lesson to an active member family from the Gospel Principles book. A few days prior we grabbed some from the library, but left them in the kitchen. So after we had a lesson we had to go back to the church. But just to give you a better idea of how we were being led, when we went to the lesson we got a refferral, and so we went to contact it. When we went to the door a sign said "NO COMPANY. EVER.". So we both felt like we shouldn't knock on that door (wonder why). Then as we were walking out of the apartment building, a really sassy 9 year old started talking to us for like 2 minutes. I wanted to slap the kid! He was like "why are you here. what are you doing. why. why. what are you doing here.". It was annoying. Anyway. We finally made it back to the church when the creepy phone every church randomly has started ringing. So... I picked it up. Here is how it went:
"Hello this is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, how may I help you?"
"Hey I just had some missionaries come to my house, and I wish they would've pushed harder for a return appointment, because I want to learn from them."
OKAY I WAS JUST LIKE WHAAAT. So cool, this guy is so golden. Anyway. We got his info, and turns out it was our zone leaders he had met. We gave the info to the elders and they said when they met him we wasn't interested. The spirit worked on him! It was so crazy to think that if we wouldn't have forgotten the books at the church, no one would've been there to answer the phone! Also, if that sassy kid wouldn't have talked to us, we probably would've left the church before he called. It was so amazing to look back and see how Heavenly Father was leading us and we didn't even know it.
Another cool experience, yesterday it snowed a lot. We decided to put shovels in our car and shovel drive ways when we had extra time. Cool. That night we never had extra time. We went to our favorite members, the Koth's house, for dinner. One of the boys is going through a lot right now with some recovery. He sometimes gets really rude and doesn't want to read scriptures with us. Last night he sat in for the lesson a little, but then went outside. We both felt like we needed to go out and talk to him. When we went out he was shoveling the driveway. So we got out our shovels and started shoveling with him. We got to talk to him more and he really opened up to us and we made a game plan to help him. He told us that he loved us and that he was very grateful for us. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever. We are so excited to help him apply the Atonement in his life and be better. What made it even better was that yesterday morning Sister Johnson was freaking out because next month we will have been out 6 months. She was freaking out because she has only seen one baptism, and so have I. I told her not to measure her success by the number of baptisms, but by how she changes lives. Being able to help him that night was a testimony of that and even though we aren't baptizing him (because he already has) doesn't mean that we can't change his life. It was such a spirit filled night!
On Saturday night we went to see our investigator, Ken (dad!). We had a great talk with him, and his daughter even joined, which she never has before. We extended March 12th (MY BIRTHDAY AND ALSO HIS BIRTHDAY) for Ken to be baptized. He said maybe... so we were like okay, are you coming to church tomorrow? He said yes and we asked if he would stay for more than just sacrament meeting. He said no, but maybe next week. We really emphasized how we always need to have a vision for ourselves or else we are going to become stagnant, and he seemed to understand that. On Sunday morning we took him and his daughter muffins for breakfast to help them come to church. He told us he felt pressured and that he needed to come to this on his own. We told him that's okay and to let us know how we can help him not feel that way. He told him to keep praying and reading the Book of Mormon. During ward council he texted us saying he wasn't coming and that he needed to think about everything. It was kinda scary to get that text... we don't want him to drop us! We are hoping he will take a lot of time pray and seek answers from our Heavenly Father. We should be hearing from him later this week!
One thing that I have learned this week it that you really can't JUST be a good person to receive all the blessings Heavenly Father has to offer us. We all have to change and become more Christlike. We have to make covenants or promises with our Father in Heaven through baptism and the Temple. We can't let ourselves become comfortable with who and where we are. The Atonement is all about changing and being better than we were the day before. When we apply the Doctrine of Christ into our lives we will see that change. We will be closer to our Heavenly Father. We will be more like Christ. We will be happier. I encourage all of you to pray and ask our loving Heavenly Father what your next step is. What He wants you to do next. When you receive your answer, don't deny it if it seems too hard or scary. Just go for it. Heavenly Father is going to help you succeed, you just need to have faith and patience. I have been able to receive many "next steps" on my mission, and it's been amazing to see the progression over the past 5 months. Start the change now, and you won't regret it.
Ahhh I am just loving it here so much! We are seeing so many miracles and are having so much fun. I love you all! The church is so true.
Sister Fultz
#TheLandBountiful
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